What is Web 2.0 & Why Do I Need It?

Web 2.0 (or web two point oh) refers to the new generation of internet use. This is the shift of internet use from an information source to a social networking tool.

Knowledge of web 2.0 tools can help faculty to develop course activities that are more engaging and interactive than the traditional lecture. This also generates opportunities for creative assessment as well as collaboration with academic colleagues from around the world. You can watch this brief montage-style video, or this lecture-style video to learn more about how Web 2.0 is changing everything.

Over the next few weeks, the Malaspina Teaching and Learning Centre will be generating information about many of these tools.

Please remember that this is for your information only, and that IT services does not provide support for these web-based programs.

We will start with Blogs because they are tools that are becoming a prevalent means of distributing information, ideas and opinions. We will then look at other means of interacting and sharing using Web 2.0 tools that are available.


Please take some time to explore and learn.

Click here to go to the next article.

Navigation and Information

Here is some basic information about getting around in this activity blog.

A few of the blogged articles will appear on the main page, however most are only available by clicking on the links below the description text on the right hand side of the page. The articles are listed by name under the heading 'Malaspina Learning 2.0'. There are also links at the end of each article that will take you to the next article.

You may notice that many of the terms found here have links to Wikipedia definitions. These links are also found at the bottom of the page. To return to this site, simply use your browser's 'back' button.

Wikipedia is a controversial source of information because it is peer produced and peer edited. If you have any concerns about the validity of this source, please feel free to look up terms from alternate sources.

One important note about this blog:
Most blogs are set up to present the most recent additions first. This is much the same as visiting the website of an online journal. The reader is presented with the most current edition first, then has the option of browsing through the archives.

In order to make this activity site easier to use, we have intentionally altered the dates of the submissions so that the activities are presented in a particular sequence.

Please disregard date stamps of activity submissions.

We hope that you enjoy exploring the tools presented here.

MTLC Team.

Click here to go to the first article.

Introduction to Blogs

Hello, and welcome to the first activity of our new Web 2.0 tools blog.

Have you heard about blogs and wondered what they are? Well, you are reading one right now. The term 'blog' is short for web log, which started as a type of journal. Some of these online journals have become very popular, while others are more personal.


To find out more, check out Wikipedia with this link:
Wikipedia's Description

For information on the pedagogical principles related to blogging, check out the information on Educause's website at this link:
Educause 7 things
Click on the 'Adobe PDF' button to view the article.

Some things that you should know about before starting a blog.

Blogs are often full of information. In order to sign up with a blogging service, you will have to give some of your personal information such as name and email address. Where is this information going?

If you use the service that we outline here, you will need to sign up for a Google account. Google is a corporation that is actively involved in advertising and marketing. They store their information on Servers in the United States. You should read all of their privacy and information use documents prior to using their materials, and be sure that you fully understand these documents prior to agreeing to use them.

The University of Edinburgh provides a comprehensive guide to thoughtful use of third-party web services at this link.

In this activity, you will create your own blog.

There are many different Blog hosting sites. We will be using Blogger because it is free and relatively easy to use.

Click here to be redirected to the 'create a blog' page. Click on the arrow, then follow the simple prompts to generate your own blog.

If you do not already have a google account (used for gmail and other google features), then you will need to create an account. follow the prompts to generate an account. Once you have generated an account, just follow the links to create your own blog.

Good luck, and if you have any problems, just drop us a line using the 'comment' link at the bottom of the post.

Click here to go to the next article.